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WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced award of the Veterans Technology for Services (VETS) Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to more than 40 serviced-disabled, veteran-owned contractors. Eligible contractors will now be able to compete for federal government procurements under this contract set-aside that has a five-year option period and potential overall value of $5 billion. VETS will provide cutting edge technology solutions to federal agencies without the expense and time involved in open market set-aside procurements.

“At GSA, we’re doing our part to ensure that federal contracting opportunities are available to our nation’s service-disabled veterans” said GSA’s Administrator Lurita Doan. “These veterans placed the nation's security before their own lives, and that sacrifice creates a debt we can never fully repay, but we can and should try.”

VETS’ broad contract scope provides information security, information systems engineering and systems operations and maintenance. A complete list of industry partners is available on www.FedBizOpps.gov under solicitation number 6FG2005MTV00001 and on the VETS GWAC website at www.gsa.gov/vetsgwac. With the addition of VETS, GSA adds to its contract portfolio that includes offerings from small disadvantaged 8(a) firms and historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small businesses, as well as large-business integrators. Awards were made by GSA’s Small Business GWAC Center located in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Veterans Entrepreneurship Act and Small Business Development Act of 1999 established an annual government-wide goal of not less than 3 percent of the value of prime contract and subcontract awards for participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. VETS is the result of Executive Order 13360 issued on October 20, 2004 by President Bush to strengthen opportunities in federal contracting for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses.

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Founded in 1949, GSA serves as a centralized procurement and property management agency for the federal government. GSA manages more than one-fourth of the government’s total procurement dollars and influences the management of $500 billion in federal assets, including 8,300 government-owned or leased buildings and 170,000 vehicles. GSA helps preserve our past and define our future, as a steward of more than 420 historic properties, and as manager of FirstGov.gov, the official portal to federal government information and services. GSA’s mission to provide superior workplaces, expert technology solutions, acquisition services, purchasing and e-travel solutions and management policies, at best value, allows federal agencies to focus on their core missions.

Did you know? GSA almost doubled the percentage of dollars spent with service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. In FY04, .55 percent used GSA tools. That number went to 1.046 percent in FY 05 and 1.3 percent through the third quarter of FY 06. Dollars spent rose 65 percent from $65 million in FY04 to $103 million in FY 05.